Systems and Methods for Print Resource Management

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods consistent with some embodiments presented provide methods for print resource management. In some embodiments of methods for print resource management print data comprising PDL data may be parsed to identify reusable resources in the print data. The reusable resources may be converted to a common internal format and stored. In some embodiments, reusable resources may be rendered to obtain a rendered version of the reusable resource, which may be stored. In some embodiments, the stored rendered version or a rendered form of the stored formatted version of the reusable resource may be used in a bitmap image for a page whenever the reusable resource is referenced during the creation of the bitmap image for the page.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to the field of printing and inparticular, to systems and methods to manage resources in pagedescription languages.

2. Description of Related Art

Document processing software allows users to view, edit, process, andstore documents conveniently. Pages in a document may be displayed onscreen exactly as they would appear in print. However, before thedocument can be printed, pages in the document are often described in apage description language (“PDL”). As used in this application PDLs mayinclude PostScript, Adobe PDF, HP PCL, Microsoft XPS, and variantsthereof as well as any other languages used to describe pages in adocument. A PDL description of a document provides a high-leveldescription of each page in a document. This PDL description is oftentranslated to a series of lower-level printer-specific commands when thedocument is being printed. The translation process from PDL tolower-level printer-specific commands may be complex and depend on thefeatures and capabilities offered by a particular printer. The processof translation from a PDL description of a document to a lower-leveldescription that may be used to place marks on a print medium is termedrasterization.

In one aspect, print jobs may be thought of as being of two broad types.In the first type, termed non-variable-data print jobs, code for textelements and graphic elements on a page may be sent to the printer andrasterized by the printer once. The printer can then print as manycopies as specified. In non-variable data print jobs, rasterizationoccurs once even when many copies are printed because each copy isidentical.

In the second type, termed variable-data print jobs, code for text andgraphic elements on a page may be sent to the printer each time that acustomized version of that page is printed. Rasterization may need tooccur for each copy printed because the copies may be non-identicalbecause of customization even though the content of large sections ofeach copy may overlap. Thus, variable data print jobs can takesubstantially longer to print.

PDL's include a class of languages governed by the Personal PrinterMarkup Language (“PPML”) specification, which permits printer languagesto identify, store, and re-use text and graphic elements. APPML-compliant language can speed up the printing of variable data printjobs by permitting the storage and re-use of text and graphic elementsthus reducing rasterization and bandwidth overheads. PPML-compliantlanguages allow printers to manipulate data components at the objectlevel instead of at the page level. In other words, by lowering thegranularity of the information stored by a printer to the object-level,PPML-compliant languages allow code to attach names to objects andre-use the objects as needed during the process of printing avariable-data job. Re-useable objects are also often called resources inPPML.

Historically, as PDLs emerged over time, various and disparatetechniques evolved to handle similar objects in different PDLs. Forexample, a printer may employ one technique to optimize reused objectsin one PDL and a different technique to handle reused objects in adifferent PDL. Thus, there is a need for more general-purpose schemes toefficiently process PDL descriptions of documents to printer-specificcommands and eliminate the complexities associated with traditional PDLprocessing.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the present invention, systems and methods for printresource management are presented. In some embodiments, a method forprocessing print data, wherein the print data comprises PDL data, themethod comprises parsing the print data to identify at least onereusable resource in the print data; transforming the identifiedreusable resource into at least one of several internal formatsdetermined by analyzing at least one characteristic of the reusableresource, wherein the internal formats are common to a plurality of PDLdata types; storing the formatted reusable resource; and using arendered version of the stored formatted reusable resource to create abitmap image for a page whenever the reusable resource is referencedduring the creation of the bitmap image for the page.

Embodiments of the present invention also relate to instructionscreated, stored, accessed, or modified by processors usingcomputer-readable media and/or computer-readable memory.

These and other embodiments are further explained below with respect tothe following figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram illustrating components in a system forprinting documents.

FIG. 2 shows a high level block diagram of an exemplary printer.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary high-level architecture of a system forcreating and processing display lists generated from PDLs.

FIG. 4 shows interaction between various components in an exemplarysystem for PDL resource management.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with embodiments reflecting various features of thepresent invention, systems and methods for the automatic storing,manipulating, and processing of a second or intermediate form ofprintable data generated from a first printable data are presented. Insome embodiments, the first printable data may take the form of a PDLdescription of a document and the intermediate printable data may takethe form of a display list of objects generated from the PDLdescription.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram illustrating components in a system forprinting documents according to some embodiments of the presentinvention. A computer software application consistent with the presentinvention may be deployed on a network of computers, as shown in FIG. 1,that are connected through communication links that allow information tobe exchanged using conventional communication protocols and/or data portinterfaces.

As shown in FIG. 1, exemplary system 100 includes computers including acomputing device 110 and a server 130. Further, computing device 110 andserver 130 may communicate over a connection 120, which may pass throughnetwork 140, which in one case could be the Internet. Computing device110 may be a computer workstation, desktop computer, laptop computer, orany other computing device capable of being used in a networkedenvironment. Server 130 may be a platform capable of connecting tocomputing device 110 and other devices (not shown). Computing device 110and server 130 may be capable of executing software (not shown) thatallows the printing of documents using printers 170.

Exemplary printer 170 includes devices that produce physical documentsfrom electronic data including, but not limited to, laser printers,ink-jet printers, LED printers, plotters, facsimile machines, anddigital copiers. In some embodiments, printer 170 may also be capable ofdirectly printing documents received from computing device 110 or server130 over connection 120. In some embodiments such an arrangement mayallow for the direct printing of documents, with (or without) additionalprocessing by computing device 110 or server 130. In some embodiments,documents may contain one or more of text, graphics, and images. In someembodiments, printer 170 may receive PDL or PPML descriptions ofdocuments for printing. Note, too, that document print processing can bedistributed. Thus, computing device 110, server 130, and/or the printermay perform portions of document print processing such as half-toning,color matching, and/or other manipulation processes before a document isphysically printed by printer 170.

Computing device 110 also contains removable media drive 150. Removablemedia drive 150 may include, for example, 3.5 inch floppy drives, CD-ROMdrives, DVD ROM drives, CD+RW or DVD+RW drives, USB flash drives, and/orany other removable media drives consistent with embodiments of thepresent invention. In some embodiments, portions of the softwareapplication may reside on removable media and be read and executed bycomputing device 110 using removable media drive 150.

Connection 120 couples computing device 110, server 130, and printer 170and may be implemented as a wired or wireless connection usingconventional communication protocols and/or data port interfaces. Ingeneral, connections 120 can be any communication channel that allowstransmission of data between the devices. In one embodiment, forexample, the devices may be provided with conventional data ports, suchas parallel ports, serial ports, Ethernet, USB, SCSI, FIREWIRE, and/orcoaxial cable ports for transmission of data through the appropriateconnection. In some embodiments, connection 120 may be a DigitalSubscriber Line (DSL), an Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), ora cable connection. The communication links could be wireless links orwired links or any combination consistent with embodiments of thepresent invention that allows communication between the various devices.

Network 140 could include a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide AreaNetwork (WAN), or the Internet. In some embodiments, information sentover network 140 may be encrypted to ensure the security of the databeing transmitted. Printer 170 may be connected to network 140 throughconnection 120. In some embodiments, printer 170 may also be connecteddirectly to computing device 110 and/or server 130. System 100 may alsoinclude other peripheral devices (not shown), according to someembodiments of the present invention. A computer software applicationconsistent with the present invention may be deployed on any of theexemplary computers, as shown in FIG. 1. For example, computing device110 could execute software that may be downloaded directly from server130. Portions of the application may also be executed by printer 170 inaccordance with some embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a high-level block diagram of exemplary printer 170. Insome embodiments, printer 170 may contain bus 174 that couples CPU 176,firmware 171, memory 172, input-output ports 175, print engine 177, andsecondary storage device 173. Printer 170 may also contain otherApplication Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), and/or FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) 178 that are capable of executingportions of an application to print documents according to someembodiments of the present invention. In some embodiments, printer 170may also be able to access secondary storage or other memory incomputing device 110 using I/O ports 175 and connection 120. In someembodiments, printer 170 may also be capable of executing softwareincluding a printer operating system and other appropriate applicationsoftware. In some embodiments, printer 170 may allow paper sizes, outputtrays, color selections, and print resolution, among other options, tobe user-configurable.

In some embodiments, CPU 176 may be a general-purpose processor, aspecial purpose processor, or an embedded processor. CPU 176 canexchange data including control information and instructions with memory172 and/or firmware 171. Memory 172 may be any type of Dynamic RandomAccess Memory (“DRAM”) such as but not limited to SDRAM, or RDRAM.Firmware 171 may hold instructions and data including but not limited toa boot-up sequence, pre-defined routines, and other code. In someembodiments, code and data in firmware 171 may be copied to memory 172prior to being acted upon by CPU 176. Routines in firmware 171 mayinclude code to translate page descriptions received from computingdevice 110 to display lists and image bands. In some embodiments,firmware 171 may include rasterization routines to convert displaycommands in a display list to an appropriate rasterized bit map andstore the bit map in memory 172. Firmware 171 may also includecompression routines and memory management routines. In someembodiments, data and instructions in firmware 171 may be upgradeable.

In some embodiments, CPU 176 may act upon instructions and data andprovide control and data to ASICs/FPGAs 178 and print engine 177 togenerate printed documents. In some embodiments, ASICs/FPGAs 178 mayalso provide control and data to print engine 177. FPGAs/ASICs 178 mayalso implement one or more of translation, compression, andrasterization algorithms. In some embodiments, computing device 110 cantransform document data into a first printable data. Then, the firstprintable data can be sent to printer 170 for transformation intointermediate printable data. Printer 170 may transform intermediateprintable data into a final form of printable data and print accordingto this final form. In some embodiments, the first printable data maycorrespond to a PDL or PPML description of a document. In someembodiments, the translation process from a PDL or PPML description of adocument to the final printable data comprising of a series oflower-level printer-specific commands may include the generation ofintermediate printable data comprising of display lists of objects. Insome embodiments, display lists may hold one or more of text, graphics,command, and image data objects. In some embodiments, objects in displaylists may correspond to similar objects in a user document. In someembodiments, display lists may aid in the generation of intermediateprintable data. In some embodiments, display lists may be stored inmemory 172 or secondary storage 173. Exemplary secondary storage 173 maybe an internal or external hard disk, memory stick, or any other memorystorage device capable of being used system 200. In some embodiments,the display list may reside in one or more of printer 170, computingdevice 110, and server 130. Memory to store display lists may be adedicated memory or form part of general purpose memory, or somecombination thereof according to some embodiments of the presentinvention. In some embodiments, memory may be dynamically allocated tohold display lists as needed. In some embodiments, memory allocated tostore display lists may be dynamically released after processing.

FIG. 3 shows an exemplary high-level architecture of a system forcreating and processing display lists generated from PDLs. As shown inFIG. 3, language server 340, engine server 360, and raster server 320may communicate with each other. In addition, language server 340,engine server 360, and raster server 320 may invoke routines andcommunicate with RDL library 330. In some embodiments, the display listmay include commands defining data objects and their contexts within adocument or a page within the document to be printed. These displaycommands may include data comprising characters or text, line drawingsor vectors, and images or raster data.

In some embodiments, the display list may be dynamically reconfigurableand is termed a Reconfigurable Display List (“RDL”). In someembodiments, an RDL may be implemented using a data structure thatallows certain display list objects to be stored in a manner that allowstheir manipulation dynamically. For example, image objects may becompressed in place to increase the amount of available memory, anddecompressed when referenced and/or used. In some embodiments, an RDLmay also permit RDL objects to be stored in memory and/or secondarystorage by holding pointers, offsets, or addresses to the actuallocations of RDL objects, which can then be retrieved when referencedand/or used. In general, the RDL allows display list objects to beflexibly stored and manipulated based on system constraints andparameters.

In some embodiments the translation of a PDL description of a documentinto a display list representation may be performed by language server340 using routines in RDL library 330. In some embodiments, languageserver 340 may take PDL language primitives and transform these intodata and graphical objects and add these to the display list using thecapability provided by functions in RDL library 330. In someembodiments, access to functions and routines in RDL library 330 may beprovided through an Application Programming Interface (“API”). In someembodiments, the display list may be stored and manipulated in adynamically allocated memory pool such as exemplary RDL memory pool 320.In some embodiments, the display list may be a second or intermediatestep in the processing of data prior to actual printing and may beparsed before conversion into a subsequent form. In some embodiments thesubsequent form may be a final representation, and the conversionprocess may be referred to as rasterizing the data. In some embodimentsrasterization may be performed by raster server 320. Upon rasterization,the rasterized data may be stored in frame buffer 350, which may be partof memory 172. In some embodiments, the rasterized data may take theform of a bitmap that specifies the marks to be made on a printed page.Print engine 177, may process the rasterized data in frame buffer 350,and form a printable image of the page on a print medium, such as paper.In some embodiments, raster server 320 and engine server 360 may alsouse routines in RDL library 330 to perform their functions. In someembodiments, engine server 360 may provide control information,instructions, and data to print engine 177. In some embodiments, engineserver 360 may free memory used by display list objects after processingfor return to RDL memory pool 320. In some embodiments, portions of RDLmemory pool and/or frame buffer 350 may reside in memory 172 orsecondary storage 173. In some embodiments, routines for language server340, raster server 320, and engine server 360 may be provided infirmware 171 or may be implemented using ASICs/FPGAs 178.

FIG. 4 shows interaction between various components in an exemplarysystem 400 or PDL resource management. In some embodiments, PDL data 410may include one or more of PPMLs, PCL, XPS, PS, and/or various othertypes of PDL data. As shown in FIG. 4, information contained inexemplary PDL data 410 may comprise of both Explicit Resources 415 andHarvested Resources 418. In some embodiments, PDL data 410 may beprocessed by Language Server 340. In some embodiments, processing mayinclude inspection of header information in PDL files to determine thedata type of PDL data contained in the file. Routines in RDL library 330may be used to process the information contained in PDL data 410.

In some embodiments, the identification of reusable resources may be PDLlanguage specific and may be performed by a preprocessing front-endprior to processing by language server 340. In some embodiments, thepreprocessing front-end may use routines in RDL library 330 that arespecific to a language to parse the PDL file and identify reusableresources. Exemplary language server 340 may then process all reusableresources identified by the preprocessing front-end using PDLlanguage-independent routines. The identified reusable resources may beprocessed using standard routines available to generally process suchresources. Accordingly, after operations by the preprocessing front-end,language server 340 may be able to perform its functions in alanguage-independent manner using a common code pathway that is sharedacross multiple PDLs.

In some embodiments, the use of a common code pathway allows languageserver 340 to make use of general optimizations for print processingbased on internal representations of reusable resources rather than amultiplicity of routines that are written for a multiplicity of PDLs. Insome embodiments, the internal representations or internal formats maybe common to reusable resources across a multiplicity of PDLs. In someembodiments, the internal formats may include one or more data fields ina data structure associated with a reusable resource. In someembodiments, the data structure may correspond to a display list or areconfigurable display list and the data field to a DL or RDL object. Inone embodiment, a rendered bitmap image may be associated with a datafield in a data structure associated with a reusable resource. In oneembodiment, a data field may directly hold the internal formattedversion corresponding to a reusable resource. In another embodiment, adata field may reference the internal formatted version corresponding toa reusable resource using a variety of mechanisms such as pointers,linked lists etc.

In some embodiments, object level data that is capable of being re-usedduring the rasterization process may be identified as resources forGeneral Resource Manager 420. In some embodiments, if the resources areexplicitly identified such as in PPML-compliant languages they may beidentified as explicit resources 415. For example, Explicit Resources415 may comprise of those objects that are explicitly identified asre-usable in PPML-compliant languages. Identification may comprise thegeneration and assignment of a unique ID to the resource. In someembodiments, a Global Unique Identifier (“GUID”) may be used to assignunique identifiers to the resources. In some embodiments, a furtherparsing of PDL data 410 may yield harvested resources 418 that arecapable of being re-used that are specific to a PDL. Harvested resources418 constitute those re-useable objects that are not explicitlyidentified, but which may be identified as resources by parsing PDL data410 in a manner consistent with embodiments disclosed herein. Forexample, consider the following code sequence in PDL data 410, where thedata comprises PostScript (“PS”) data:

%!ps [5 1 1 1] 0 setdash 0.8 0.8 0 0 setcmykcolor 10 570 moveto 200 0rline 0 200 rlineto −200 0 rlineto closepath stroke showpageIn the example above, the “setdash” command can be interpreted to meanthat this stroke will be composed of a series of dot-dashes, which willbe repeated for the whole path. The “setdash” command may be identifiedas harvested resource 418 to general resource manager 420. Onceidentified, general resource manager 420 can create a GUID for thecommand, so that the dot-dash may be rendered once, or stored in DLform, based on optimality considerations and then reused wherever thedot-dash is printed.

In some embodiments, general resource manager 420 can maintain a tableor another data structure that may be used to track resources currentlyin the system. GUIDs assigned to resources may be used to track whethera particular resource has been rendered. That is, the table keeps trackof whether the resource is represented as display list 430 (notrendered) or as a bitmap 440 (rendered). Exemplary language server 340may process explicit resources 415 and harvested resources 418 and maystore objects generated during processing in display list (“DL”) 430and/or reconfigurable display list (“RDL”) 450. In some embodiments,resources or objects that can be re-used may be stored in RDL 450 usingresource manager 420. DL 430 and RDL 450 can be processed by rasterserver 320 to create bitmap 440.

General resource manager 420 may determine which form, bitmap 440 or RDL450, is optimal for the particular resource. For example, denseresources covering a small area may be kept in bitmap form whereasnon-dense resources covering a large area may be kept in RDL form. Insome embodiments, general resource manager 420 may use information aboutthe physical bounds of a resource and an estimate of the physical boundsfor each object in a display list for the resource to estimate thedensity of the resource in total. For example, general resource manager420 may identify a resource that spans 100 pixels×100 pixels as lowdensity and may store the resource in display list form, if the soleobject in the display list for the only marks about 140 pixels. On theother hand, general resource manager 420 may identify a resource thatspans 100 pixels×100 pixels as high density and may store the resourcein bitmap form, if there are many objects in the display list for theresource and in total they mark more than 10000 pixels (which can occurif some objects overlap physically with other objects). In general,general resource manager 420 may use one or more criteria, includingdevice specific criteria, to determine the format for storing aresource.

When a re-usable object is rendered, general resource manager 420 maymark the resource as rendered. In some embodiments, re-usable renderedobjects may be stored in frame buffer 350 by general resource manager420. In another embodiment, a rendered re-usable object may be stored onsecondary storage 173, if there is no memory available in frame buffer350. For example, if the time to copy a re-usable object from secondarystorage into the frame buffer is less than the time to render the objectthen the object may be stored in secondary storage. In some embodiments,re-useable objects may be cached. In another embodiment, resources maybe sent to printer 172 in the form of a Uniform Resource Locator(“URL”). If the resource has already been cached printer 172 may use thecached resource. Otherwise, the URL may be used to retrieve theresource.

Some PPML's permit the use of reusable objects across page boundaries.For example, Reusable Objects in PPML and Resource Elements in XPS canbe used across page boundaries. In one embodiment, Generalized ResourceManager 420 may also allow for resources to be stored and reused in acontext that spans more than a page. In some embodiments, the storingand reuse of objects across page boundaries eliminates the need tore-create reusable objects when they are encountered in later pages. Insome embodiments, Generalized Resource Manager 420 may use datastructures to facilitate processing of resources valid within one pageand those resources that have wider scope. Resources that are needwithin a page are often called “temporary resources” because they areneeded only while a page is being created. In some embodiments,Generalized Resource Manager 420 may use data elements, within a datastructure to implement RDL 450, that are routinely used in the contextof the current page. For example, a registry for the current page may beused to keep track of temporary resources and temporary resources may beregistered with this registry when they are identified.

In some embodiments, resources with a wider scope than a page may bestored in a special resource data structure. For example, a resource mayspan several pages, a document, and/or a series of documents. Resourcesthat span several pages, a document, or multiple documents are oftencategorized as “permanent resources.” In one embodiment, a datastructure to hold permanent resources may contain data such as fonttables, halftone tables, as well as objects in the display list and/orframe buffer. In some embodiments, a system wide registry may be used tokeep track of permanent resources and permanent resources may beregistered with this registry when they are identified.

For example, PPML provides functionality to create a series of reusableobjects. In PPML, a page, or subsets of pages of a multi-page documentcan be defined as reusable object and can have multiple occurrences. Insome embodiments, generalized resource manager 420 may allocateresources upon determination of their context to data elements within adata structure used in the context of the current page, or to dataelements with the special resource data structure that is used acrossmultiple pages. In some embodiments, the identification of temporary andpermanent resources and their allocation to data elements withinappropriate data structures and/or registration with appropriateregistries may be performed by language server 340. Exemplary engineserver 360 may process data in bitmap 440 for printing of the document.

Other embodiments of the present invention will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practiceof one or more embodiments of the invention disclosed herein. It isintended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplaryonly, with a true scope and spirit of the invention being indicated bythe following claims.

1. A method for processing print data, wherein the print data comprisesPDL data, the method comprising: parsing the print data to identify atleast one reusable resource in the print data; transforming theidentified reusable resource into at least one of several internalformats determined by analyzing at least one characteristic of thereusable resource, wherein the internal formats are common to aplurality of PDL data types; storing the formatted reusable resource;and using a rendered version of the stored formatted reusable resourceto create a bitmap image for a page whenever the reusable resource isreferenced during the creation of the bitmap image for the page.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the at least one reusable resource isidentified by a global unique identifier.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one reusable resource is identified from print datacomprising one or more of explicit and harvested resources.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein transforming the identified reusable resourceinto at least one of several internal formats determined by analyzing atleast one characteristic of the reusable resource further comprises:associating the reusable resource with an instance of a data field in adata structure, wherein: the data field instance persists for a page, ifthe resource is temporary; the data field instance persists acrossmultiple pages, if the resource is used over multiple pages; and thedata field instance persists across multiple documents, if the reusableresource is used over multiple documents.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein associating the reusable resource with an instance of a datafield in a data structure further comprises performing one of:generating a display list object corresponding to the reusable resource,if a time needed to render the display list object is less than atemporal threshold; generating a display list object corresponding tothe reusable resource, if the memory requirements of the renderedreusable resource exceed a space threshold; and generating a renderedform of the reusable resource otherwise.
 6. The method of claim 5,wherein the rendered version of the reusable resource is stored in acache.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the rendered version of thereusable resource is stored in secondary storage.
 8. The method of claim5, wherein the rendered version of the reusable resource is stored in aframe buffer.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein a reusable resourcecomprises of one or more of: text objects; image objects; and graphicobjects.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the parsing the print datato identify at least one reusable resource in the print data isperformed by a pre-processing front end.
 11. A computer-readable mediumthat contains instructions, which when executed by a processor performsteps in a method for processing print data, wherein the print datacomprises PDL data, the method comprising: parsing the print data toidentify at least one reusable resource in the print data; transformingthe identified reusable resource into at least one of several internalformats determined by analyzing at least one characteristic of thereusable resource, wherein the internal formats are common to aplurality of PDL data types; storing the formatted reusable resource;and using a rendered version of the stored formatted reusable resourceto create a bitmap image for a page whenever the reusable resource isreferenced during the creation of the bitmap image for the page.
 12. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the at least one reusableresource is identified by a global unique identifier.
 13. Thecomputer-readable medium method of claim 11, wherein the at least onereusable resource is identified from print data comprising one or moreof explicit and harvested resources.
 14. The computer-readable medium ofclaim 11, wherein transforming the identified reusable resource into atleast one of several internal formats determined by analyzing at leastone characteristic of the reusable resource further comprises:associating the reusable resource with an instance of a data field in adata structure, wherein: the data field instance persists for a page, ifthe resource is temporary; the data field instance persists acrossmultiple pages, if the reusable resource is used over multiple pages;and the data field instance persists across multiple documents, if thereusable resource is used over multiple documents.
 15. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein associating the reusableresource with an instance of a data field in a data structure furthercomprises performing one of: generating a display list objectcorresponding to the reusable resource, if a time needed to render thedisplay list object is less than a temporal threshold; generating adisplay list object corresponding to the reusable resource, if thememory requirements of the rendered reusable resource exceed a spacethreshold; and generating a rendered form of the reusable resourceotherwise.
 16. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein therendered version of the at least one identified reusable resource isstored in a frame buffer.
 17. The computer-readable medium of claim 11,wherein the rendered version of the at least one identified reusableresource is stored in a cache.
 18. The computer-readable medium of claim11, wherein the rendered version of the at least one identified reusableresource is stored in secondary storage.
 19. The computer-readablemedium of claim 11, wherein the parsing the print data to identify atleast one reusable resource in the PDL data is performed by apre-processing front end.
 20. A computer-readable memory that containsinstructions, which when executed by a processor perform steps in amethod for processing print data, wherein the print data comprises PDLdata, the method comprising: parsing the print data to identify at leastone reusable resource in the print data; transforming the identifiedreusable resource into at least one of several internal formatsdetermined by analyzing at least one characteristic of the reusableresource, wherein the internal formats are common to a plurality of PDLdata types; storing the formatted reusable resource; and using arendered version of the stored formatted reusable resource to create abitmap image for a page whenever the reusable resource is referencedduring the creation of the bitmap image for the page.